1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved guide for a hand held power cutting tool and, more particularly, to a guide for a hand held power cutting tool of the type having a blade extending through a base plate and wherein the guide is adjustable to compensate for an offset distance between an edge of the base plate and the blade of the cutting tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
When cutting a work piece, such as a 2.times.4 board, to fit snugly between two existing parallel elements, ordinary practice requires the use of a rule to measure the inside distance and transfer that measurement to the work piece, where a scriber and a carpenter's square are used to mark the cut line, which is usually followed freehand with a hand held power cutting tool. The accuracy of cutting using this method often varies. Time and motion are wasted compared to the use of the present invention, a tool which, after being adjusted to work with a particular hand held power cutting tool, first measures an inside distance and secondly is placed on the work piece and used to guide that particular hand held power cutting tool to produce a cut-off piece equaling the inside distance measured.
Numerous types of guides for use in connection with hand held power cutting tools are known in the art. Many such prior art devices, however, have the disadvantages of being unduly complicated and often difficult to use. Other such prior art devices encounter difficulties in aligning the guide device in spaced relation to the desired cut line to allow for the distance between the blade and the edge of the base plate through which the blade extends.